Sunday, December 27, 2009

Somalia's al-Shabaab jihadists seize five islands near Kenya

Said the al-Shabaab spokesman: "The Mujahideens have realized their grip on all southern regions in Somalia and in the near future we hope to govern all Somalia under the holy Quran rule."

Indeed, that is the aim of all jihad: the imposition of Islamic law.

And should al-Shabaab prevail in the remainder of the country (even excluding Somaliland and Puntland) they will certainly aim to "defend" their regime by posing an increasing threat to the security and territorial integrity of Somalia's neighbors.

After all, as the apologists have noted, "defensive" jihad can be waged even without a caliph; indeed, that's not much of a deterrent to jihad.

All that's needed is an excuse. "Al-Shabaab Seize Islands Near Kenya," by Shafii Mohyaddin Abokar for Newstime Africa, December 26:

The Al-qaeda inspired Al-shabasb militants in Somalia have on seized five islands near the Kenyan coast, the group's spokesman in the southern Jubba regions told reporters on Wednesday.

Spokesman Sheik Hassan Yaqub Ali said that the Mujahideens have peacefully taken the five islands including Raskamboni and Kudha both two important hideouts early on Wednesday morning.

"We arrived here to implement the Islamic law, and this is kind of extending our rule into more lands in Somalia" the militant spokesman added during a press conference in the Raskamboni Island on Wednesday. "The Mujahideens have realized their grip on all southern regions in Somalia and in the near future we hope to govern all Somalia under the holy Quran rule" he stated.

Some interesting journalistic license:

This foolish doctrine based on Islamic Sharia law has not been embraced by Muslims in the wider Islamic world as most of them see this fundamentalist Islamic translation of Sharia law as the Muslim extremists' way of strangling the peaceful teachings of the Quran. Sharia law does not seem to have any place in contemporary Islamic lifestyle because of the terror, brutality and consistent human rights abuses associated with it.

The Islands were formerly controlled by another Islamist rebel group Hezbal Islam which was driven out of the southern Jubba regions after clashes with Al-shabab which the United States accuses of being Alqaed's proxy in the horn of Africa.

Last week the Kenyan government closed its border with Somalia after it deployed hundreds of its military troops along the 600KM border-line as militants were advancing to the Kenyan side of the border.